Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Mellow Tree Hugger

They say that the longer you are married, the more you look like your spouse. Toby and I may look more alike now than we did 38 years ago, but we still have our differences. When Toby got home from work yesterday, he decided to do some yard work - like trimming trees. We have four young lace-bark elm trees that sprout every which way. They certainly needed trimming. And so after supper I found Toby with a limb-cutter, saw, and some big clippers thangies working on the trees. I thought it would be nice to help him. I would be wrong.

We started off pretty good, but you have to remember that I am a NM mountain girl. I like lots of bushy trees. I don't mind being surrounded by mountains. They don't obstruct my view. They are the view. I feel the same way about trees. Toby, on the other hand, is a flat-lander - born and raised in West Texas on the Llano Estacado where trees are few and far between. He likes to be able to see for miles. We are very different in our idea of what a tree should look like. Or possibly he is just a man gone wild with the tree cutters. I may have mentioned before how he takes the tree from looking bushy to looking like a cartoon. In fact, he even said himself how the trees now looked like the Grinch's dog.

At one point in our marriage, we lived on a piece of property that needed some serious tree clearing. Toby got an bulldozer to do that. Talk about a boy with a toy! We had a big fight discussion with me wanting the trees to hide the house from the view from the road and him bulldozing everything in sight. I think we finally compromised on that one, or maybe the bulldozer broke down.

Back to my story; after a little tree trimming and me saying, "No, not that one..." a few times, I was beginning to sound naggy. I decided to leave him be with his trees. Besides, NCIS was about to start. The lace-bark elms will sprout new branches and be fine eventually - no need to get my panties in a wad.

I just want to point out that we have been married long enough to look alike and have lots of the same thoughts at the same time, but when we have our differences, I am much wiser in choosing my fights. Those lace-bark elms are not worth the fight. Now my pines are another story. I think Toby has real fear of trimming them. They are my babies - my NM reminders. People in OK often trim them to look like regular trees -they cut all of the lower branches off and leave a little at the top. I say, what the hell? A pine tree should look like a pine tree! I will admit that they need a branch or two cut off from the bottom, but only so the limb does not scrape you off of the lawnmower as you go by. See, I've mellowed in my old age, but I'm still a bit of a hippie.

3 comments:

John
said...

I LIKE that story! In fact, I got Susie to read it and we both laughed. You still entertain me Lou! Hope you guys are doing well. Speaking of hippies, I'm sure your brother is at SXSW hobnobbing with potential clients etc. I wonder if you and I would fit down there with our conservative views? Hee-hee.